LOS ANGELES.–Speaking on Trump-hating “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, 69-year-old Rev. Al Sharpton slammed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for daring to say something positive about 77-year-old President Donald Trump at his New Hampshire victory celebration. Trump beat 51-year-old former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley by 12%, when New Hampshire allowed Democrats to vote in the GOP primary. If Democrats couldn’t vote in the GOP primary, Trump would have won by 25%. Yet Haley celebrated like a great victory, backed by anti-Trump Republicans and the Democrat Party. Haley’s end will come either before or after the South Carolina primary where she’s forecast to lose by a landslide. But when it comes to Al Sharpton saying he was “embarrassed” by Scott fawning over Trump, when Scott is a committed Republican is beyond the pale. What right does Sharpton have criticizing Scott?
Sharpton thinks he can control the political party of Black Americans, most being Democrats, like himself. “It was humiliating to watch what Tim Scott did as a sitting senator,” Sharpton told Joe Scarborough. Bantering on the victory stage, Trump told Scott, “you must hate her.” Trump referred to Nikki Haley, while South Carolina governor, appointing Tim Scott. Scott actually must have only gratitude for Haley, taking a chance on him. Turns out Scott won office easily in 2023, showing he has political savvy. Scott ran for president but dropped out Nov. 12, 2023, realizing he was not polling well, with no path to the nomination. Scott endorsed Trump Jan. 19, before the New Hampshire primary. Sharpton has nothing good to say about Scott, even though Scott is proof that South Carolina, a former slave state, no longer lets the past influence elections.
Sharpton has never been a mainstream Democrat but a left-wing civil rights advocate, something that he takes seriously. Watching Scott praise Trump irks Sharpton, even though he’s risen to the top of GOP politics. “It’s not a good thing in my life to watch Tim do that,” Sharpton said, referring Scott patronizing Trump. “I just love you,” Scott told Trump, in response to Trump saying he must hate Haley. “He has a right be Republican, he has a right to do Donald Trump. But to do it in such a way that is so humiliating was troubling,” Sharpton told Scarborough, one of Trump’s biggest White critics. Sharpton’s right at home ranting about Trump but, when it comes to Tim Scott, why is Al so humiliated? Scott’s a grownup and says whatever he likes. Scott was playing around with Trump, glad to be on the winning side to Trump’s big victory in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire matters because voters have a fiercely independent streak, don’t tend to follow the GOP heard, leaving most voters more independent. If New Hampshire says anything, it’s that Trump still appeals to independent voters, some 33% of the electorate, sharing the vote with Democrats and Republicans. Sharpton feels humiliated because he’s spent his life, his career fighting against White society, seeking Black civil rights, against a White majority. So, for Sharpton, he projects his own dynamics on to Scott, when Scott was just playing around with Trump. There was no attempt by Trump to be condescending at all, only Sharpton’s predictable response to successful White people. Scott travels in White circles because he’s part of the GOP leadership together with senior Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) another big supporter of Trump in South Carolina and elsewhere.
Sharpton’s attitude is that the Black community is controlled by the Democrat Party. How dare Scott to be involved in GOP circles, when Democrats condemn the GOP, certainly Trump, as racist. Democrats in the 2020 election milked George Floyd’s death for everything they could get, branding Trump as a White Supremacist. Trump has no history at all of racism or bigotry, something fabricated by Democrats to blame Trump for George Floyd’s death. Together with the Covid-19 crisis, Trump was blamed for everything, just like the White House is doing now saying Trump would destroy American democracy. But who’s destroying U.S. democracy with his reckless war against the Russian Federation? It’s not Trump, it’s Black-friendly Joe Biden, wrecking U.S.-Russia and U.S.-Chinese relations, getting the U.S. into perpetual war, robbing the Treasury of needed cash for social programs.
Sharpton feels right at home gaslighted by Scarborough to see the civil rights leader rant about Trump and Scott.
Sharpton views most White people as the enemy unless they’re prepared to cut the African American community a check for slavery reparations. Sharpton is the first to blame Whites for any atrocity committed against Black people, including the rape in Central Park of a White woman. Sharpton defended fiercely the Central Park Five, Blacks and Latinos, even though they were guilty of rape. Sharpton’s hatred of Trump fits right into the White House narrative that Trump is a dictator, hell-bent on destroying American democracy. But what has Biden done for democracy going war against the Kemlin and pushing for war against Communist China? Ripping Trump and calling Whites racist is Sharpton’s favorite pastime, especially on White talk shows.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
